American secret service operatives are distributing illegal assault
rifles, anti-tank rocket launchers and other ammunition to Syrian
opposition, the New York Times reports. But due to some rebels’ links to
Al Qaeda, the CIA’s task is precarious.­The paper reports that for weeks now, officers based in southeast
Turkey have supervised the flow of illegal arms to numerous opposition
factions ready to fight the regime of President Bashar Assad. The only
problem is some of the rebel groups have links with terrorist
organizations such as Al Qaeda, so the CIA mission must be careful not to arm proven terrorists by mistake.Arms
and ammunition are being brought into Syria mainly over the Turkish
border with the help of Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood network and other
groups, the report says. Expenses are being shared by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.The NYT
source, an unnamed Arab intelligence official, revealed that American
officers are also collecting information on Syrian opposition groups and
recruiting informants among their ranks. The source said the Obama
administration is considering sharing its intelligence data, such as
satellite images and detailed information on the location and maneuvers
of Syrian troops.According to the source, CIA operatives might be
helping the rebels with organizing a rudimentary intelligence
organization. The CIA agents have reportedly not set foot on Syrian
soil, however.While, it seems, supplying Syrian opposition with
arms, the US would like to see Syria’s allies, Russia in the first
place, stop supplying weapons to the regime of President Bashar Assad.
Washington has expressed concern with Russia performing maintenance of Syrian Mi-25 assault helicopters.Moscow
has consistently denied supplying to Damascus any types of assault
weapons that can be used against armed rebels. Russia’s Foreign Ministry
says the country has only supplied Syria with defensive capabilities such as anti-air missile systems.Russia is not violating any international sanctions against Syria, and Moscow has declared it will not cease military cooperation with Damascus.Prior
to the report about CIA officers operating on the Turkish-Syrian
border, the Obama administration’s declared policy on the conflict in
Syria centered on diplomacy and humanitarian aid. The State Department
has reportedly allocated $15 million in medical supplies and
communication equipment for armed opposition groups in Syria.In the meantime it seems the Pentagon is considering various options for interference in the Syrian conflict, including establishing no-fly zones over the country, as was done in Libya a year ago.American and Israeli generals are also concerned with securing alleged stockpiles of Syrian chemical weapons, the very existence of which has never been proven.

Putin on Syria: No state can decide another's government

Russian President Vladimir
Putin speaks during a press conference at the end of the G20 Summit of
Heads of State and Government in Los Cabos, Baja California, Mexico on
June 19, 2012 (AFP Photo / Jewel Samad)

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s G20 statements about Syria's
future seem to have made some world leaders rush to false conclusions.
David Cameron claimed that Putin explicitly “does not want Assad
remaining in charge in Syria.”­British Prime Minister David Cameron has claimed that during the G20
summit, President Putin shifted his position and now wants President
Bashar al-Assad out of power in Syria."There
remain differences over sequencing and the shape of how the transition
takes place, but it is welcome that President Putin has been explicit
that he does not want Assad remaining in charge in Syria," Cameron told reporters at a news conference in the wake of the G20 summit in Mexico's Los Cabos."What
we need next is an agreement on a transitional leadership which can
move Syria to a democratic future that protects the rights of all its
communities," Cameron added.Cameron’s statement was refuted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as “not corresponding to reality.”During his speech, Putin clearly stated that no nation has a right to decide for another on “who should be brought to power and who should be ousted.”Reiterating Russia’s firm position on Syria, Putin said that "it
is important that after a regime change, if it happens, and it must
happen only by constitutional means, peace comes to the country and
bloodshed stops."While many of the Syrian people indeed would like President Assad to go, "this is not the whole Syrian people," Putin said. All conflicting parties in Syria should cease violence and start negotiations “to agree in advance on how they will live together in a single country,” Putin added.On Monday,
on the sidelines of the summit, Putin had a very long meeting with US
President Barack Obama. While the leaders did not come out with any
groundbreaking statements, after two hours behind closed doors they
managed to outline some common ground on the Syrian issue.The presidents stated that they had agreed that they need to see a “cessation of the violence,” in Syria and that a “political process has to be created to prevent civil war.” There was no mention of any tougher sanctions on Syria or a reiteration of demands that Assad should step down at that point.However,
on Tuesday, the two states have divided in opinion once again. Speaking
at the summit, Obama clearly ruled out any possibility of Assad staying
in power in Syria, as he has “lost all legitimacy” in
Washington's view. Obama confirmed that despite the intensive talks,
neither Russia nor China have agreed to any plan that includes the
removal of Assad from power.“It’s my personal belief, and
I’ve shared this with them, is that I don’t see a scenario in which
Assad stays and violence is reduced,” he said. “But I do think they recognize the grave dangers of all-out civil war."

Syria's opposition appeals for Russian support

A
delegation of Syrian opposition figures is visiting Moscow to discuss
international efforts to find a political solution to the violence.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is holding talks with Abdulbaset Sayda, head of the Syrian National Council.Mr Lavrov's deputy said Russia wanted to move the opposition "towards realistic and constructive positions".Later, international envoy Kofi Annan will brief the UN Security Council on how he plans to revive his peace plan.Mr Annan held talks with officials in Baghdad and Tehran on
Tuesday, and reiterated his view that Iran - Syria's closest ally - had a
role to play in resolving the conflict, despite US objections.The former UN secretary general also said Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad had proposed altering his peace initiative so the most
violent areas would be pacified first."He made a suggestion of building an approach from the ground
up in some of the districts where we have extreme violence to try and
contain the violence in these districts and, step by step, build up and
end the violence across the country," Mr Annan told reporters in Tehran.

'Revolution'Ahead of his meeting with Mr Lavrov on Wednesday, Mr Sayda
said he would try to persuade Russia to end its support for President
Assad's government. "The events
in Syria are not disagreements between the opposition and the
government but a revolution," he told a joint news conference. "It is
similar to what happened in Russia when it finished with the previous
regime and set upon the path of democratic development."Mr Lavrov said he welcomed the opportunity to have direct
discussions with opposition figures "at this crucial time for Syria",
before stressing that he wanted to once again clarify Russia's position.
"Sometimes your organisation has questions about what we are
doing and we want to clear up these questions so there are no doubts."Russia wanted to understand if there was a "prospect" of the
deeply divided opposition factions uniting and creating a platform for
dialogue with the government, he added.Earlier, Mr Lavrov's deputy, Mikhail Bogdanov, said he would
"try to move the Syrian opposition figures towards realistic and
constructive positions that can help end the bloodshed".The opposition has insisted that President Assad must step
down as part of any agreement on a transition, something Russia has
rejected.Russian warshipsThe talks come as a deadline approaches for the UN Security
Council to decide whether to renew the mandate of the UN Supervision
Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), whose 298 unarmed military observers and 112
civilian staff are monitoring the implementation of Mr Annan's plan,
under which a ceasefire was supposed to begin in mid-April.The observers suspended their work on 16 June because it was too dangerous.Mr Annan admitted on Saturday that his peace plan had not succeeded, adding: "Maybe there is no guarantee that we will succeed."

Analysis

Jonathan MarcusBBC defence and diplomatic correspondent

By any standards the Russian naval deployment to the
Mediterranean is significant - two destroyers, five landing ships with
marines and supplies on board, backed up by a salvage tug and a tanker. Moscow is sending out a clear signal to the embattled Syrian
regime that it is putting a force into the Mediterranean that could be
used to extricate Russian personnel and equipment from their naval base at the Syrian port of Tartus.In other words, Russia is willing to countenance the demise of the Assad regime if no peace plan can be agreed. Equally Moscow is signalling to the US and the West that it
intends to defend its interests in the region, and that Russia remains a
player in the Middle East whose views must be considered.

On Tuesday, Russia circulated a
draft resolution to UN Security Council diplomats that would extend the
observer mission beyond the end of its mandate on 20 July.

The resolution contains no threat of sanctions against Syria
and reportedly suggests that UNSMIS should focus on trying to achieve a
political solution.Correspondents say the draft is unlikely to satisfy the US
and Western European countries, who have called for a resolution under
Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which would allow the Security Council to
authorise sanctions and military intervention.In a separate development, Russia said on Tuesday that it had
dispatched a flotilla of 11 warships, led by the anti-submarine warfare
destroyer Smetlivy, to the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Some of the
vessels would dock at the Russian naval base outside the Syrian port of
Tartus, it added.It will be the largest display of Russian military power in
the region since the uprising against President Assad began in March
2011.But a spokesman for the US National Security Council said it
had "no reason to believe this move is anything out of the ordinary".The announcement came a day after Russia said it was ending
new shipments of weapons to the Syrian military until the violence had
decreased. It had previously rejected calls to end shipments.

More on This Story

Features and analysis

There are conflicting reports about the deaths of
as many as 220 people in the Syrian village of Tremseh, with activists
accusing security forces and pro-government militiamen and the
government blaming "armed terrorists".

Russia makes case for Eurasian Union

Negotiations between Russia, Kazakhstan and
Belarus are advancing over the creation of a Eurasian Union, which would
abolish customs duties and unify economic policies amongst
participating countries.

In February a Eurasian Economic
Commission (EEC) was established, with the fully ratified economic union
expected to enter into force by 2015. The lengthy process of legal codification and harmonisation is under way.The Russian Permanent Mission to the EU held an informal presentation Thursday
(5 July) aimed at clarifying the details of the union and reassuring EU
businesses, concerned that it could become a ‘Soviet empire through the
backdoor’.Representatives from the economic commission did not respond to
questions over whether the Eurasian union could be used by the EU to put
political pressure on its members, especially Belarus, considered to be
the 'last dictatorship in Europe'.Natalia Yacheistova, EEC deputy director for trade policy, said the
union would promote growth amongst its member states, which was already
good, she said, and had risen 4% over the last year.The common economic space will see EU-style reforms, such as subsidies and state support for agriculture and handling of monopolies.The EEC replaces the Commission of the Customs Union (CCU) and will be represent the union's permanent regulatory body.‘Good for business’A lack of information has seen Brussels worried the union could
affect trade and economic cooperation between the EU and the Eurasian
countries.Yacheistova tried to dispel these concerns, saying she hoped the
union could eventually lead to a “breaking down of trade barriers
between the EU” and that the union would create a “new environment to
promote the successful continued work of business”.Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he would not advance
negotiations on a new basic treaty with the EU unless it formalised
relations with the Customs Union (CU), which should go ahead after
Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).“The idea of the Eurasian Economic Union, if based on the WTO rules,
could lead to positive contributions to trade prosperity and
cooperation,” he said.Yacheistova said businesses and industrial associations were involved
in drafting a common set of regulations, adding that the Eurasian
commission hoped to achieve “harmonisation with Europe” in low voltage
electric products, for example.Pascal Kerneis, a senior advisor for international relations at
BusinessEurope, told EurActiv that his organisation “welcomed” the
formation of a Eurasian Economic Union.He said the business
group appreciated the “clarity on the union” offered by the Brussels
meeting, and wished to further cooperation with Russia after its WTO
accession.Chip off the old blocYacheistova said the union project would be “taking into account
European Union experience” in integration and trade negotiations.“We want to exchange experience with the EU in a way that is mutually
beneficial. We emphasise our interest in a collaborative network
between the EU and the CU,” she said.Yacheistova claimed this was just the beginning of cooperation
between the EU and the economic commission but that in some areas it
already exchanges competences, such as in defence.The Russian ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizov, said the Eurasian
commission would be setting up a “working modus operandi to exchange
best practices”, adding that he hoped the two sides “will be more
successful than the EU and [South American trade group] Mercosur.”Following its failure to complete negotiations with other trade blocs
– including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the
Andean nations, and Mercosur – the EU has reverted to a policy of
bilateral dealings with single nations.While Russia represents a big growth market for European business,
Kazakhstan and Belarus appear to offer little promise in the near
future.“We see more potential in Indonesia in some sectors,” Kerneis told EurActiv.EnlargementAt the start, the Eurasian Union will only include the three countries mentioned but Yacheistova said it was “open for access”.Negotiations over a roadmap for Kyrgyzstan’s accession had already begun, she said, with other countries likely to follow suit.Vasiliy Boitsov, EEC director for technical regulation, said any
country wishing to join the Eurasian Union would have to meet the common
requirements, including safety and sanitary standards, for example.Newcomers would also be required to adopt the EEC's entire
legislation and ensure that national laws do not conflict with those
those of the union.The Eurasian Union has the potential to become a sensitive issue for
the EU, with some commentators foreseeing a political and economic
‘tug-of-war’ over Ukraine.The EU is seeking an increasingly close relationship with Ukraine,
going beyond bilateral cooperation towards economic integration and
deeper political cooperation.Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, known as “Europe’s last
dictator”, was quoted on the Kremlin's website, claiming that the
Customs Union was appealing to Ukraine.“For the time being, they [the Ukrainian leadership] still have some
hesitations, but […] there is movement in this direction,” he said.

Positions:

Roman Rukomeda, PhD, political analyst of the Ukrainian Foundation for Democracy “People First” commented:"The key issue for the EU considering the CU and CES is about the
development's dynamics of new organisations, especially in the part
joining new members. A year ago, Russian President Vladimir Putin voiced
that in case of Ukraine's accession to the Russian integration
projects, Kyiv will receive additional revenue of 10 billion dollars
during the first year of accession. Format of "3+1" (Russia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan + Ukraine) proposed by the Ukranian authorities, Russia does
not accept," Rukomeda said."Thus, we should expect the continuation of talks between Moscow and
Kyiv on the potential membership of Ukraine in the Customs Union and
Common Economic Space," he added.

Syria used helicopter gunships and other
heavy weaponry in the shelling of Tremseh, says General Robert Mood,
head of the UN monitoring mission in the country.

The head of the UN monitoring mission in Syria
has said that helicopters and tanks were used to shell a town in the
centre of the country before a massacre that is believed to have killed
more than 140 people on Thursday.General
Robert Mood, who has led the UN presence in Syria since April, said his
members were ready to enter the town of Tremseh if a truce there took
hold. He said monitors stationed in the area had personally verified
that heavy weapons were directed against Tremseh on Thursday.Late
on Friday the UN said observers had been unable to contact the local
military commander responsible for the area near Tremseh and its members
had been refused access.
It claimed the Syrian air force "continued to attack populated urban
areas on a large scale" and said its observers had logged more than 100
explosions in an "ongoing military operation".Residents of the
small town of around 6,000 people said they were attacked from outlying
areas late on Thursday after many hours of shelling. They blamed the
attack on loyalist forces and a pro-regime militia known as the Shabiha
which has been accused of being at the vanguard of other mass killings
during recent months.Syrian officials instead blamed
"terrorists", who they say have been responsible for much of the
violence in Syria since the uprising began almost 17 months ago.The UN's special envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan,
said he was "shocked and appalled" by "intense fighting, significant
casualties, and the confirmed use of heavy weaponry such as artillery,
tanks and helicopters" in Tremseh, which is in an ethnically mixed area,
22 miles from Hama.Activists in the area say around 600 casualties are being treated in field clinics and hospitals in surrounding areas. They claim that many bodies remain in crop fields and a final death toll will not be known for days.It
was difficult to obtain first-hand accounts from Tremseh were difficult
to obtain on Friday, with communications to the area down and residents
unreachable on equipment that had been given to them by activist networks.Mousab
al-Hamadee, an opposition activist living 12 miles away, said people
had travelled to the town early on Thursday to warn of an impending
regime assault. Hamadee said he had spoken to his sister who said the
attack had been relentless. "A big number of the young men were killed
in the field when they were trying to escape the army attack," he said.
"Helicopters targeted them by heavy machine guns while they were driving
their motorcycles – while they were fleeing the village."Today
the people of Tremseh opened a house that was burned by troops. They
found two people who were burned alive. My sister told me that the only
two doctors in the village were targeted by mortar shells. Both doctors
were killed in their houses."The massacre took place ahead of a
UN security council meeting that is expected to weigh a new response to
the crisis in Syria, which has morphed over the past year from a series
of anti-regime demonstrations in many towns and cities in Syria into a
full-scale insurrection.Some European states and the US are
pushing for the UN to impose sanctions under a Chapter Seven resolution.
However, Russia and China, which have staunchly supported Damascus
throughout the uprising, have again indicated that they will use their
vetoes to block such a move.Damascus said earlier this week that
it is committed to Annan's six-point peace plan and nominated an
interlocutor that it said would represent the regime in discussions with
the opposition to bring about a ceasefire.• This article was amended on Saturday 14 July 2012 to correct a misspelling of Beirut in the byline.

NATO commandos in illegal special ops in Syria..Mossad, CIA and Blackwater operate in Syria

http://rt.com/news/stratfor-syria-secret-wikileaks-989/Undercover NATO troops are already in Syria despite denials from
their parent governments, according to a leaked brief from a
highly-placed analyst.The information comes from a hacked email from leading private US
intelligence agency Stratfor, whose correspondence has been released by
Wikileaks since February 27. The email appears to be written from the address
of Reva Bhalla (bhalla@stratfor.com), the company’s director of
analysis, for internal use, and details a confidential Pentagon meeting
in December. The consultation is alleged to have been attended by senior
analysts from the US Air Force, and representatives from its chief
allies, France and the United Kingdom.Western powers have categorically denied military involvement in
Syria’s internal conflict, for which they have no international mandate.
But if the information contained in the letter is reliable, a radically different picture of Western activity in Syria emerges.The author of the letter claims that US officials “said
without saying that SOF [special operation forces] teams (presumably
from the US, UK, France, Jordan and Turkey) are already on the ground,
focused on recce [reconnaissance] missions and training opposition forces.” A little later the US army experts expand on the role of the undercover commandos: “the
idea ‘hypothetically’ is to commit guerrilla attacks, assassination
campaigns, try to break the back of the Alawite forces, elicit collapse
from within.”Alawites are a minority Islamic sect, to which Syrian President
Bashar Assad and his support base belong. For the past year he has
battled an insurrection that has united a range of opponents, from
pro-democracy activists to radical Sunni Muslims.There have been previous allegations of a Western presence on the side of the rebels and on Monday 13 French officers were reportedly captured by the loyalist forces.Despite the commandos’ already wide remit, the email states that the US experts “stress that this is all being done as contingency planning, not as a move toward escalation.”If confirmed, the information will give ammunition to Russia and
China, who have accused Western powers of paving the way for an invasion
of Syria. These fears have already been cited as the reasons the two countries vetoed the US-backed UN resolution on Syria in February.http://rt.com/news/cia-blackwater-mossad-syria-037/A security operation in Homs reveals Mossad, CIA and Blackwater are
involved in the military violence in this part of Syria, as over 700
Arab and Western gunmen and Israeli, American and European-made weapons
were detained in Baba Amr district.

Syrian security forces got yet further proof of Western powers’
military involvement in Syria’s internal conflict, reports Al-Manar, a
news agency, affiliated with Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based militant group
and political party.Around 700 gunmen were recently arrested in the former rebel stronghold of Babar Amr.“The captured gunmen held Arab nationalities, including Gulf,
Iraqi, and Lebanese. Among them were also Qatari intelligence agents and
non-Arab fighters from Afghanistan, Turkey, and some European countries
like France,” the agency quotes Syrian expert in strategic affairs Salim Harba as saying.Harba also confirmed to the agency that “a coordination office
was established in Qatar under American-Gulf sponsorship. The office
includes American, French, and Gulf – specifically from Qatar and Saudi
Arabia – intelligence agents, as well as CIA, Mossad, and Blackwater
agents and members of the Syrian Transitional Council.”The Syrian expert also added the security forces have also seized Israeli-, European- and American-made weapons.“The Syrian army also uncovered tunnels and equipments there,” he told to the agency, “advanced
Israeli, European, and American arms that have not yet been tested in
the countries of manufacture, in addition to Israeli grenades, night
binoculars, and communication systems were confiscated by the security
forces.” Salim Harba however said the Syrian authorities are not planning to
reveal all the obtained information now, but assured all the evidence is
of high value.“The Syrian security forces have documents and confessions that
could harm everyone who conspired against Syria, and could make a
security and political change, not just on the internal Syrian level,
but also on the regional level,” he said.The recent Stratfor leak and hacked email of the company’s director of analysis also suggest undercover NATO troops are already on the ground in Syria.

————

Order of Malta treasures in the Kremlin

http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_07_06/maltese-orden-treasures-in-the-Kremlin/Museums of Italy, France, Malta and Russia have combined efforts to
make an impressive exhibition dedicated to the history of the oldest
Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem,
better known as the Order of Malta.This exhibition has opened in the Moscow Kremlin Museums to last between the 6th of July and the 9th of September.The exhibition called Nine Centuries of Serving Faith and
Charity contains about 200 works of art and documents. The Moscow
Kremlin Museums have provided a lot of unique items for the exhibition.
Director of the Kremlin Museums Yelena Gagarina says:

“Rare items from collections and archives in Italy, Malta, France and
the Island of Rhodes, as well as those of the Kremlin, bring to the
memory the main periods of the life and activities of the Order of Malta
that are full of heroic struggle and the noble cause of protecting poor
people. Here one can see Grand Masters’ crowns, Daggers of Faith,
crosses and insignia that belonged to famous Grand Masters, weapons and
armour of the Knights and wonderful portraits. The highlight of the
exhibition is a portrait of a Maltese knight painted by great Italian
artist Caravaggio which was kindly lent by Palazzo Pitti in Florence.”

The exhibition in the Moscow Kremlin marks the 20th anniversary of
the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the Order
of Malta. In this connection, Grand Master Matthew Festing has arrived
Moscow. Officials of this high rank had not visited Russia for over 200
years. The opening ceremony of the exhibition in the Kremlin was
attended by Fra John Critien, the keeper of the Order of Malta’s art
collections. He remembered close historical links between Russia and the
Order of Malta.

“The exhibition grants
a wonderful opportunity for Russian people to better understand the
Sovereign Military Order which had relations with the Russian Empire for
several very important years. They were the years when Emperor Paul I,
initially a patron of the Order, became its Grand master and thus saved
the order during the critical years of its existence. Visitors will
understand why the Russian Emperor protected the Catholic Order.”

Those events
date back to the very end of the 18th century when Napoleon conquered
Malta in 1798 and the Order was mercilessly robbed and evicted. Paul I
came to the rescue and invited the knights, who were well-known in the
world for their humanistic activities, to Russia. In gratitude, they
gave him the title of Grand Master. After the death of Paul I, the next
Russian Emperor Alexander I refused to be the head of the Order, so
practically all regalia of the Order were returned from Russia to Rome.Contacts between Russia and the Order of Malta began long before Paul
I. The Knights often helped Russian sailors. Curator of the Kremlin
exhibition Yelena Gavrilova speaks about one of the exhibits, a
manuscript with a long list of names.

———–

the great order of malta is feigned all over the world..even in russia..

Spain erupts in protests

Spain’s government has announced sweeping new austerity measures, amid clashes between protesters and police.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said sales tax would rise from 18% to 21%, and local authorities would have their budgets slashed.He is aiming to save 65bn euros (£51bn; $80bn) as part of a deal with eurozone leaders to help rescue Spain’s banks.The move coincided with a miners’ rally in Madrid, where police fired rubber bullets at crowds of protesters.Thousands of people joined in the rally to support the miners, who
have been campaigning for weeks against major cuts to industry
subsidies.Witnesses said protesters out to support the miners threw fireworks, bottles and stones at riot police.The officers fired rubber bullets and charged at the demonstrators.http://www.rt.com/news/fires-bullets-protesting-miners-939/At least 76 people have been injured
in Madrid as clashes flared up between protesters and police, the
latter using rubber bullets. Thousands of Spaniards turned out against
new cuts introduced by the government.Those injured include 33 police officers and 43 protesters – miners and their supporters.Minor arrests have been made so far, with eight people being
detained. Three of those arrested reportedly threw bricks at police,
local El Pais newspaper reported. The police have confirmed that there
were no miners among the arrested.Protesters panicked and sought shelter as police began to disperse
the crowd, Olvidio Gonzalez, 67, a retired miner from the northern
Asturias region told AP.“We were walking peacefully to get to where the union leaders were speaking and they started to fire indiscriminately,”said Gonzalez, who was also struck by a rubber bullet.Witnesses and demonstrators claim that police started the attack without any warning.“We were eating quietly when they began to appear with several
police vans. Then we started to shout and some threw a few bottles,
which gave rise to the charge,” Hermann, a miner from the small town of Langreo in northern Spain, told El Pais.About 200 people remained surrounded by dozens of police in front of parliament, Twitter user Danips posted on his microblog.Some media reports suggest a spontaneous demonstration flared up in
front of parliament. Protesters are calling on Spaniards via Twitter to
join bigger protests at 19:30 local time.Protesters disagree with a 63 per cent cut in
subsidies to coal mining companies, major contributors to the Spanish
energy market. Unions say the plan threatens 30,000 jobs and could
destroy their livelihoods.Miners, who were hiking from the north of the country for the past
two weeks, have been joined by tens of thousands of Spaniards also
protesting against Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s tax hike.The prime minister announced his decision to raise VAT by 3 per cent
as part of the plan to trim the public budget by 65 billion euro over the next two-and-a-half years. Rajoy also declared a 3.5-billion-euro cut to local government spending.Many protesters marched more than 400 kilometers (250 miles) from mines in northern Spain.

Bahrain-Saudi Arabia union “meant to save US Navy base”

http://www.rt.com/news/bahrain-saudi-arabia-union-551/A possible attack on Iran would require a fully-prepared US Fifth
Fleet, even as its host country Bahrain is engulfed in a public
uprising. A solution comes after the island nation trumpeted a future
formal union with its mighty ally Saudi Arabia.A possible move for political integration between Manama and Riyadh
was announced on Monday, as Saudi Arabia hosted a Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) meeting. Uniting just two nations of the six-strong bloc
would be much easier than hammering out a union between all the
Sunni-ruled monarchies.For Bahrain, forming some sort of confederation with the strongest
member of the GCC may become a solution for the ongoing political
crisis. The country’s Shiite majority has been demanding constitutional
reforms and an elected government since December 2011. GCC nations
provided their troops to Bahrain to quell the uprising in its peak, but
it did not simply go away.GCC countries’ major regional rival Iran branded the move as an
“American plan to annex Bahrain to Saudi Arabia,” and called on Iranian
Shiites to take to the streets on Friday in protest against it.Bahrain lashed out at Tehran for what was termed “Iranian
interference in the affairs of the kingdom” by Foreign Minister Sheikh
Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa.“What Iranians say is not paranoid or far-fetched at all. Bahrain
itself is a US naval base. They could easily, if they so desired, have a
democratic regime there. But the problem with allowing democracy is
that a democratic government could then tell the US to get out. So it
suits the United States to have this tiny little despotism and a larger
despotism in Saudi Arabia,” Middle East expert Tariq Ali told RT.The announcement of a potential union came just days after Washington
renewed supplying arms to Bahrain, which was halted on October due to
the violent crackdown of protests by Manama.The move provoked criticism from human rights groups and some US politicians and Bahraini opposition.

———–

american puppets..protecting the 5th fleet..the spotlight never shines on them..

401

U.S. moving submersibles to Persian Gulf to oppose Iran

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/07/submersibles-persian-gulf-to-oppose-iran.htmlThe Navy is rushing dozens of unmanned underwater craft to the
Persian Gulf to help detect and destroy mines in a major military
buildup aimed at preventing Iran from closing the strategic Strait of
Hormuz in the event of a crisis, U.S. officials said.The tiny SeaFox submersibles each carry an underwater television
camera, homing sonar and an explosive charge. The Navy bought them in
May after an urgent request by Marine Gen. James Mattis, the top U.S.
commander in the Middle East.Each submersible is about 4 feet long and weighs less than 100
pounds. The craft are intended to boost U.S. military capabilities as
negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program appear to have stalled.
Three rounds of talks since April between Iran and the five countries in
the United Nations Security Council plus Germany have made little
progress.Some U.S. officials are wary that Iran may respond to tightening sanctions on its banking
and energy sectors, including a European Union oil embargo, by
launching or sponsoring attacks on oil tankers or platforms in the
Persian Gulf. Some officials in Tehran have threatened to close the
narrow waterway, a choke point for a fifth of the oil traded worldwide.The first of the SeaFox submersibles arrived in the Gulf in recent
weeks, officials said, along with four MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters and
four minesweeping ships, part of a larger buildup of U.S. naval, air and
ground forces in the region aimed at Iran.The U.S. already has sent two aircraft carriers and a squadron of F-22 fighters to the Persian Gulf, and is keeping two U.S. army
brigades in Kuwait. Though much of the buildup has been publicly
acknowledged by the Pentagon, the deployment of the submersibles has not
been publicly disclosed, apparently to avoid alerting Iran.The SeaFox is small enough to be deployed from helicopters and even
small rubber boats, but it also can be dropped off the back of a
minesweeper. It is controlled by a fiber optic cable and sends live
video back to a camera operator.It can be used against floating or drifting mines, which Iran has
used in the past. It operates up to 300 meters deep, and moves at speeds
of up to six knots. But the $100,000 weapon is on a what amounts to a
suicide mission. The “built-in, large caliber shaped charge” it carries destroys the mine but also the vehicle itself.

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and now they say august is the attack month..well they have all the pieces lined up..but who will start it?